National Masters Snooker begins today

KARACHI: A total of 32 cueists having crossed the age of 40 will be taking part in the inaugural Jubilee Insurance National Masters Snooker Championship 2017 which will be getting underway at the Champions Snooker Academy in Lahore on Saturday (today).

According to the details announced by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Friday, the participants have been divided in eight groups for the preliminary rounds at the end of which top two cueists from each group will be advancing to pre-quarter-finals.

The Group A comprises Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Saqib Bashir (Balochistan), Amanullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh).

The Group B consists of Naveen Kumar Perwani (Sindh), Rashid Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Akhtar Mohammad (Balochistan) and Waheed Ahmed (Punjab).

The Group C is composed of Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan), Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) and Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh).

Mahmood Khan (Balochistan), Aamir Samdani (Sindh), Saeed-ur-Rahman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Aamir Sohail (Punjab) constitute the Group D.

The Group E features Chaudhary Shahzad Mahmood (Islamabad), Atif Mughal (Punjab), Naseem Paracha (Sindh) and Zaheeruddin Babar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

The Group F has Mirza Shadab Baig (Sindh), Mujahid Ali Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Saeed Baloch (Balochistan) and Azhar Khan (Balochistan).

Shahzad Butt (Punjab), Arshad Ali Qureshi (Islamabad), Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) and Yousuf Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) have been drawn in the Group G.

The Group H is made up of Noman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Yousuf Jr (Balochistan), Mohammad Nadeem (Punjab) and Sunil Samuel Shahani (Sindh).

The preliminary round will finish on Monday and the pre-quarter-finals will be held the following day.  The best-of-11-frame final is to be held on March 30.